Kern vs JPH

[SamRoss]

Hey guys,
I posted this message yesterday but only got one response from Jim (thanks Jim). If anybody has any helpful information, I would really appreciate the help...
Does anybody know anything about Kern or people who are rotating there vs JPH and the prospects of residencies at those hospitals???
Here is the post that I wrote yesterday:
Hello everybody,
I am preparing to take my USMLE step 1 and I just found out that if I take it by the end of September, it will be very unlikely to make the 2006 Match.
Having this in mind, I decided to just spend some more time studying for the test and maybe then either starting rotations at Jacksonpark in Chicago or wait till next July and start rotating at Kern's in California.
I was wondering if any of you guys out there who have been to either Kern or Jackson Park, would be kind enough to share your experiences with me regarding those two hospitals.
Other than the fact that I have heard good things about the two hospitals, my main reason for wanting to go to either one of those places is because I am sick of moving around and would like to just settle in one place for the next two years.
Thank you very much for your help and I appreciate your input.

[williamrobert]

I am nowhere near that point, but a very good friend of mine who just graduated did all his cores and all but two of his electives at Kern in bakersfield. I asked him similar questions to yours, and this is what he told me...the atmosphere and teaching at Kern is excellent...the medical student coordinators are collegial and take your education seriously and expect you to do the same. Kern has ACGME residencies in internal medicine, family practice, general surgery, OB/Gyn, and emergency medicine so there are cohorts of residents in each of those core specialties who actually take time to teach you. The only drawback about Kern (if you can call it that) is that it is very hard to get into...you have to apply to them separately and hope for an interview, etc. They only take the cream of the crop and your Step I scores have to be stellar even to get an interview, unless you have an inside connection.

Anyways, like I said this is not firsthand knowledge of mine but comes from someone who recently finished there.

[SamRoss]

Hey William...
Thanks a lot for the info...
did your friend get a residency there at Kern?
do you know how difficult it is to get in there?

[sw]

I have not contributed to this forum in the past, but I can give you some info on Kern. I started the 1 year clinical cores here about a month or so ago. This is the only hospital I have done clinicals in (besides a week at larkin during 5th semester), so I don't have much to compare it to. My first rotation has been ob/gyn. As another person stated, Kern does have an ob/gyn residency program here. My experience has been great. On day 1 of the rotation I was expected to step right in and participate. I was a little tentative at first b/c I had never even witnessed a delivery (let alone deliver myself), but I have had a lot of exp. in the past 4 wks. and now I feel comfortable delivering babies (of course under direct supervision of resident or attending). I also have gotten plenty of experience in other areas of ob/gyn that I would rather not mention!

I can't say first hand how the other dpt.'s here are, however, I have heard nothing but good things. One thing I can say though is that the rotations here are not going to be a vacation...In ob you are expected to be on the floor by 6am and stay for about 12 hours..unless you are on call then you get to stay even longer! Also, we attend several lectures.

In regards to admision here....there are only 2 students from my class on the island doing the core rotation, but 2 other Ross students from a class in front of me started at the same time...so there were 4 total ross students who started the year rotation in July. I think it is very competitive to get one of these spots. The process is similar to described above..you apply to kern, interview with kern, and they decide if you come (ross has nothing to do with it). One thing to consider is that kern starts there rotations twice a year, so instead of applying for next July you can apply for January.

Hope this helps.
Scott

[spatel0434]

What all do you need to apply to Kern? Letters of recommendations? USMLE Step 1 scores? Transcripts? Anything else?

Do you apply via Ross? or Do you get an application from Kern?

Can you do rotations elsewhere and then join into Kern (i.e. while you're waiting for entry into Kern, can do rotations somewhere else)? The reason I ask is because I plan to take Step 1 at the end of January, which would make it too late to apply for January. But I would hate to wait 6 months before entering Kern in July (should I be fortunate enough to be accepted for rotations there).






I have not contributed to this forum in the past, but I can give you some info on Kern. I started the 1 year clinical cores here about a month or so ago. This is the only hospital I have done clinicals in (besides a week at larkin during 5th semester), so I don't have much to compare it to. My first rotation has been ob/gyn. As another person stated, Kern does have an ob/gyn residency program here. My experience has been great. On day 1 of the rotation I was expected to step right in and participate. I was a little tentative at first b/c I had never even witnessed a delivery (let alone deliver myself), but I have had a lot of exp. in the past 4 wks. and now I feel comfortable delivering babies (of course under direct supervision of resident or attending). I also have gotten plenty of experience in other areas of ob/gyn that I would rather not mention!

I can't say first hand how the other dpt.'s here are, however, I have heard nothing but good things. One thing I can say though is that the rotations here are not going to be a vacation...In ob you are expected to be on the floor by 6am and stay for about 12 hours..unless you are on call then you get to stay even longer! Also, we attend several lectures.

In regards to admision here....there are only 2 students from my class on the island doing the core rotation, but 2 other Ross students from a class in front of me started at the same time...so there were 4 total ross students who started the year rotation in July. I think it is very competitive to get one of these spots. The process is similar to described above..you apply to kern, interview with kern, and they decide if you come (ross has nothing to do with it). One thing to consider is that kern starts there rotations twice a year, so instead of applying for next July you can apply for January.

Hope this helps.
Scott

[sw]

To apply to kern you get an application when you are in Miami. You send the application to Ross and they mail your transcripts and application to Kern..Kern then interviews the students who they select over the phone.

The application is for a 1 year program. Kern wants you to do all of your core rotations here, and it says on their website that they will make you repeat other rotations if you do them elsewhere. You can do electives though (I don't know if you would want to do this b4 your cores or not).